Many climbers access cosmic county and the freezer by parking at the E. end of Donald Rd, Clarence and walk down past Dargan Springs Retreat to the climbing areas.

This bush road is not a public road and is in fact on private land and crosses 3 separate titles. Dargan Springs Retreat has been sold by me and will be owned by a Vietnamese Buddhist group who have expressly asked that no climbers walk through this way anymore- they wish to protect their boundaries and use the place for SILENT retreats.

We ask that climbers respect their wishes and walk to the climbing areas via the railway track walking track that starts at the dam cliffs climbing area.

I wish to thank the climbing community for being cool about quietly walking through our property [and not driving down] for the past 10 years and it is with some regret that I post this topic.

Thanks for allowing us access mate, its a very kind and generous gesture, best of wishes and I will tell my climbing friends. When I was a teenager in Blackheath I would often walk through Vipasna with my dog to a dam and nobody would say anything....

On 3/03/2011 tnd wrote:>Thanks for your tolerance of climbers (and patience with climbers who did>the wrong thing by driving) while you've been there Mike.>
You know what? I've had enough of this bullshit!

I've been going to Cosmic for nearly 20 years now, long enough that I still think of the 10yr old B+B as "new".

I don't have any huge beef with the former owner, since the ban on driving brought the benefit of a quieter crag. However, I will never thank him for allowing me to walk 50m down a fire road near his building. He was morally obliged to allow access, and I caused not a shred of inconvenience to him or his guests.

As for the new owners, denying access to a vast area of public land, by surrounding it with a narrow ring of private land is unacceptable. The current situation should never have been allowed to exist, that fire road ought to have remained as public land. It doesn't matter that this place is only one of many who contribute to the farcical blockade, they were the last brick in the wall.

I shall continue to access Cosmic by walking (quietly) down that fire road, and will politely explain my case to the new owners. If they decide to enforce their antisocial agenda, things will get interesting.

On 4/03/2011 One Day Hero wrote:>As for the new owners, denying access to a vast area of public land, by>surrounding it with a narrow ring of private land is unacceptable.
Don't blame the owners, blame the government. They subdivided it.

>I shall continue to access Cosmic by walking (quietly) down that fire>road...
No surprises there.

On 3/03/2011 peterc wrote:>Ahem...and thanks for letting me drive out through your property that>time in the early 2000s when I got caught in the county after the gate>near the dam was locked late in the day.

I also got locked inside sometime in early 2000. Railway gate was wide open when we drove in, but then locked up when we came back! We had to dismantle a fence and (cough cough) drive through the back yard of one of the new houses in the sub-division. We didn't stop until we got to Arapiles.

Yeah, this is BS, I've never seen climbers doing anything except walking quitely past the lodge keeping a low profile and this ban is quite unecessary.

I won't be changing the way I access the crag any time soon.

This is similar to the situation that existed in England 50 years ago when wealthy land owners restricted access to mountains and moorland and climbers would risk being shot at attempting to reach crags. Australia needs something similar to the CROW act and a body similar to the BMC to stand up for our interests. Sadly nothing remotely similar exists.

"it is in the Theravadin tradition to practise walking meditation. Live and let be, one with the track and one wth the hexes, one should always leave the gates open to the heavens. Maybe we can explain to them we are practising climbing meditation."

Damien- even when you were a snot nosed climber, other climbers like Andrew Penny worked in with local land owners to create a access that was acceptable to all the land owners and this has always involved crossing private land. What you call the "fire road" has never been public.

As a climber I explained to the buddist group very carefully how important the area was to climbers [my current climbing partner got married out there nearly 20 yrs ago!] and my initial impression was that they were pretty laid back about it, it was only yesterday that I sadly found out that that silence and privacy was integral to the retreats that they run.

Maby you should be a bit more zen about this-" If you cant beat em join em", Then you could have your own private retreat above the county and go for very long "meditation walks" throught the bush with your backpack. Who knows doing a retreat might even make you chill out about the issue, really all it means is thay tou have to walk/ride in from the dam cliffs.

The image of a bunch of robed monks and nuns chasing you down the access rd with big sticks does however tickle my fancy.

Isn't there one along bells line of road furthur down the mountains? I do believe they charge nothing (except you can give donations, could be wrong)...perfect for a dirt bag climber....free accomodation, tofu and watermelon juice and just hide backpack under your robes as you head of into the bush.

On 4/03/2011 mabsydney wrote:>I won't be changing the way I access the crag any time soon.

Then you're an ignoramus with no respect for people's rights to enjoy exclusive use of property they have bought and paid for.

>This is similar to the situation that existed in England 50 years ago>when wealthy land owners restricted access to mountains and moorland and>climbers would risk being shot at attempting to reach crags.

Exaggerated drivel. Who's threatening to shoot anyone?

>Australia>needs something similar to the CROW act and a body similar to the BMC to>stand up for our interests. Sadly nothing remotely similar exists.

There really are very few genuine access issues in Australia, we're relatively lucky. There is an existing easy and legal access to Cosmic by parking in the clearing beside the rail line on the way in to Dam Cliffs and walking from there. It's only a little further than the walk from Donald Rd and shorter drive from the Mt Vic direction.

On 4/03/2011 mabsydney wrote:>"I though Buddhists were sharing types?">>Too right!>>Yeah, this is BS, I've never seen climbers doing anything except walking>quitely past the lodge keeping a low profile and this ban is quite unecessary.>>I won't be changing the way I access the crag any time soon.>

I love playing totem tennis, but I don't have room to swing a bat in my backyard. I'm going to come and play at your house.

On 4/03/2011 cork wrote:>\even when you were a snot nosed climber, other climbers like Andrew> Penny worked in with local land owners to create a access that was acceptable>to all the land owners and this has always involved crossing private land.>What you call the "fire road" has never been public.>
I don't buy that shit for a second! The first ten years I was going to Cosmic; that block was vacant, the gate was permanently open........and what the fuch is it if its not a fire road? Railway access road? Certainly isn't a private road, cause it goes from public land to public land.

I seriously doubt that the original developers tracked down the owners of the vacant lot in 1979 and "negotiated" access.

>>Maby you should be a bit more zen about this

This is me being zen, you don't wanna see me when I fire up

> really all it means is thay tou have to walk/ride in from the dam cliffs.

......until the railway folk have another OH+S purge, and close that access too........at which point tnd will be all accepting since "there's lots of cliffs we're still allowed to climb on"......pussy!>
I'm going to time the drive+walk. If the Dam Cliff approach adds more than 10mins each way, the monks can suck my balls!